Got a Question?

The internet has made it easy to get information on almost anything with the help of search engines like Google. But, if you have a specific question then getting an answer is not so straight forward. Sites such as Yahoo! Answers were supposed to fill that gap, but instead have de-generated into a spam fest. Over the past 18 months many new sites have come online to fill the role of Yahoo! Answers, sites such as Mahalo, Stack Overflow, Hunch and Quora.

Most people are talking about Quora since it has a very easy to use interface and highly curated content. The initial launch was restricted to select people in the technology sector such as entrepreneurs and venture capitalists which created the buzz. Also, many of Quora’s employees have came over from Facebook including the CTO of Facebook, Adam D’Angelo. However, what really has set Quora apart is they actively monitor the conversations which leads to very rich content. Recently, someone ask a question about how much does Netflix spend on shipping costs. Normally, a question like that would get all sorts of responses but the correct answer came from the CEO of Netflix himself.

The recently launched Q&A sites have taken the original idea of a question and answer forum and added a social element to it. In business, sometimes it’s not always about creating something completely new but improving on an existing idea.